4 / 8
4
sjch.us
•
Kelly Sanders burst into tears
when she learned her longtime best
friend, Dana, had breast cancer. She also did something else—the next morning
she checked her own breasts. “My best friend saved my life,” Kelly says. “Because
she was diagnosed, I did a breast self-exam and found a lump. I called Quest
[Imaging] that morning as soon as they opened to schedule an appointment.”
Y O U + U S : A S U C C E S S S T O R Y
Facing cancer together:
“My best friend saved my life.”
Kelly found the lump on a Thursday morning
in April 2014. The following Monday she had a
mammogram and ultrasound at Quest, followed
by a biopsy. It was the day after the biopsy she
got the call—she had cancer.
Kelly, 41 at the time, didn’t have a family history
of cancer of any kind. “I never thought it would
happen to me.”
After hearing the news from her doctor, she
immediately called her husband, Aaron. “He just
told me he was there for me and asked what the
next steps were.” Kelly, a building inspector for
Kern County, was on her way to a jobsite. But she
didn’t call it a day. “After I talked to my husband, I
just knew I needed to keep on going. I put my sun-
glasses on to hide my eyes and worked.”
“Everyone cheers you up when you are down, finds
time to listen to you and sometimes will even dance
to get you to smile. I’m so glad I had them on my
team. They didn’t let me give up.”
FACING BREAST CANCER WITH
SUPPORT, GRIT AND HUMOR
Kelly
’
s
story